10/28/11

Just because something is old does NOT mean its bad. Brains (young or OLD), pencils, slide rules and yes, even a typewriter can be useful. When you remember a phone number instead of just using speed dial, guess what, you remembered something; your brain actually works. If you use a piece of paper and a pencil to do math; again, brain in gear. If the power goes out and you use your handy, dandy slide rule to determine the square root of some number, you have just one more option in life. When I saw this picture, I thought of yesterday, yes, I mean yesterday!! October 27th was the very first day I used the Ubuntu 11.10 operating system exclusively. I still had to do some configuration and getting used to its very simple way of doing things (did I mention that everything is free ???) but I had a GREAT TIME. Why couldn't Windows have been this simple?????? One of the programs I installed was a simple word processor called "Focus Writer". Its claim to fame is simplicity in use and focus on just WRITING!!! One thing I especially liked though, was the option to turn on typewriter sounds. Using it was a trip down memory lane, but better. Imagine, a typewriter with cut and paste and delete!!!! Wow! I fell in love and for a brief period felt 40 years younger!!!!! Sometimes old things can be the BEST THINGS!!! Now, consider the follow verse from the book of Jeremiah...

WEB: Jeremiah Chapter 6[16] Thus says Yahweh, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ [17] I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen!’ [18] Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is among them. [19] Hear, earth! Behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. [20] To what purpose comes there to me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.”

Want to know if something is valuable? Ask the question: Has it endured the test of time? If the answer is "YES" then its probably worth something; it HAS ENDURED!!! Which is why diamonds are worth more than marshmallows!!! Think old people aren't worth anything? Then just ask them a question about history or maybe even what a SLIDE-RULE IS? Take this principle just a bit farther... Why is a house a better investment than a bicycle? The house will be worth more than the bicycle in 20, 30 or 40 years. Going a bit farther even, consider how we view our lives. If we just live for the moment and take no thought as to how we handle our money or maintain our house or treat our spouse, what do you think is going to happen in a few decades? Probably something that is less than wonderful!!! How about the spiritual side of your life? What is going to happen to you in 50 or 60 years from now. Don't know? Find out, read your Bible and know. You may not like the answer, but you will know and if you know, you CAN CHANGE YOUR DESTINY!!! How, by believing that what is there is true and doing what it says to do with your life. At this point, turn to Acts chapter two and read and reread it. The language is plain and direct, so you need to ask yourself... Have I done what it tells me to do? Don't be like the people in Jeremiah's time, who heard what to do and didn't do it. Follow the "old paths" and obey the instructions of Acts chapter two and avoid evil. Remember, Old CAN BE GOOD, but even better...OLD CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE? What's next? That's up to you. Want more information... quick let me type it out for you on my word processor that is a typewriter. Boy, am I a geek or what?

Isa 5:1 Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

Isa 5:2 He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a winepress therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

Isa 5:3 "Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.

Isa 5:4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?

Isa 5:5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down.

Isa 5:6 I will lay it a wasteland. It won't be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it."

Isa 5:7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

Isa 5:8 Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!

Isa 5:9 In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: "Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.

Isa 5:10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."

Isa 5:11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!

Isa 5:12 The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don't regard the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.

Isa 5:13 Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst.

Isa 5:14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.

Isa 5:15 So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;

Isa 5:16 but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.

Isa 5:17 Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.

Isa 5:18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;

Isa 5:19 Who say, "Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!"

Isa 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Isa 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Isa 5:22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;

Isa 5:23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!

Isa 5:24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Isa 5:25 Therefore Yahweh's anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out.

Isa 5:26 He will lift up a banner to the nations from far, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.

Isa 5:27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

Isa 5:28 whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

Isa 5:29 Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver.

Isa 5:30 They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.

Isa 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.

Isa 6:2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.

Isa 6:3 One called to another, and said, "Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!"

Isa 6:4 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

Isa 6:5 Then I said, "Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!"

Isa 6:6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.

Isa 6:7 He touched my mouth with it, and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven."

Isa 6:8 I heard the Lord's voice, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me!"

Isa 6:9 He said, "Go, and tell this people, 'You hear indeed, but don't understand; and you see indeed, but don't perceive.'

Isa 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed."

Isa 6:11 Then I said, "Lord, how long?" He answered, "Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly waste,

Isa 6:12 And Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

Isa 6:13 If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock."

Isa 7:1 It happened in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.

Isa 7:2 It was told the house of David, saying, "Syria is allied with Ephraim." His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.

Isa 7:3 Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller's field.

Isa 7:4 Tell him, 'Be careful, and keep calm. Don't be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.

Isa 7:5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you, saying,

Isa 7:6 "Let's go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let's divide it among ourselves, and set up a king in its midst, even the son of Tabeel."

Isa 7:7 This is what the Lord Yahweh says: "It shall not stand, neither shall it happen."

Isa 7:8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people;

Isa 7:9 and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.' "

Isa 7:10 Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying,

Isa 7:11 "Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above."

Isa 7:12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt Yahweh."

Isa 7:13 He said, "Listen now, house of David: Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?

Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isa 7:15 He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

Isa 7:16 For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.

Isa 7:17 Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.

Isa 7:18 It will happen in that day that Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

Isa 7:19 They shall come, and shall all rest in the desolate valleys, in the clefts of the rocks, on all thorn hedges, and on all pastures.

Isa 7:20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.

Isa 7:21 It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;

Isa 7:22 and it shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter: for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left in the midst of the land.

Isa 7:23 It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver shekels, shall be for briers and thorns.

Isa 7:24 People will go there with arrows and with bow, because all the land will be briers and thorns.

Isa 7:25 All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep."

Isa 8:1 Yahweh said to me, "Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man's pen, 'For Maher Shalal Hash Baz;'

Isa 8:2 and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."

Isa 8:3 I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then said Yahweh to me, "Call his name 'Maher Shalal Hash Baz.'

Isa 8:4 For before the child knows how to say, 'My father,' and, 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria."

Isa 8:5 Yahweh spoke to me yet again, saying,

Isa 8:6 "Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;

Isa 8:7 now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks.

Isa 8:8 It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel.

Isa 8:9 Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered!

Isa 8:10 Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us."

Isa 8:11 For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

Isa 8:12 "Don't say, 'A conspiracy!' concerning all about which this people say, 'A conspiracy!' neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized.

Isa 8:13 Yahweh of Armies is who you must regard as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread.

Isa 8:14 He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Isa 8:15 Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured."

Isa 8:16 Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples.

Isa 8:17 I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

Isa 8:18 Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion.

Isa 8:19 When they tell you, "Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:" shouldn't a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

Isa 8:20 Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don't speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.

Isa 8:21 They will pass through it, sore distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward,

Isa 8:22 and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.